My name is Ahty Johnson, and I was born and raised in New York City. As a lifelong elite athlete, I was training intensely during my senior year of high school in 2010 when I began experiencing extreme fatigue and muscle weakness. What I initially thought was overtraining became more concerning when I struggled to finish track practice and even climb stairs.

After extensive testing, I was diagnosed with severe Aplastic Anemia, a rare bone marrow disorder that prevents the body from producing enough new blood cells. My treatment options were a bone marrow transplant or ATG therapy. Unfortunately, I had no donor matches on the registry, and no one in my immediate family was a match, so I underwent ATG treatment.

The diagnosis changed my life. As a top-five track recruit in the nation, I went from competing at the highest level to spending my days in hospitals and being homeschooled. Fortunately, about seven months after treatment, I began to recover. I later earned a partial track scholarship to the University of South Carolina, where I became a nationally ranked sprinter.

My experience with Aplastic Anemia exposed the critical shortage of African American donors on the bone marrow registry. Because donor matches are heavily influenced by ethnicity, African Americans face significantly lower odds of finding a compatible donor than other populations. This inspired me to become an advocate for donor registration and education.

I have partnered with organizations such as DKMS and NMPD (Previously Be The Match) to recruit donors and raise awareness. I later founded Mission Marrow to host my own donor drives, registering more than 200 potential donors. To date, at least five of those donors have gone on to save lives.

In 2019, I learned that my bone marrow had not fully recovered from Aplastic Anemia and was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a blood disorder that can progress to leukemia if left untreated. I was told I needed a bone marrow transplant. After nearly a decade on the registry without finding a full match, I became one of the patients I had spent years advocating for.

Fortunately, advances in transplant medicine allowed me to receive a haploidentical (half-matched) stem cell transplant from my mother on October 17, 2019. Complications from my half-matched stem cell transplant led to numerous side effects, including Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome, a chronic and progressive lung disease. My life changed dramatically as I became oxygen-dependent for several years. For someone who had spent a lifetime as an athlete, going from peak physical condition to struggling with everyday activities was one of my greatest challenges.

In 2024, I underwent a double lung transplant which was the only cure for my condition. The lung transplant gave me a second chance at life and the opportunity to continue moving forward with resilience and purpose.While I continue to manage long-term side effects, I face each day with gratitude, resilience, and the belief that things will continue to improve.